Giovanni POV:
I knew she would figure it out eventually, I must admit I didn't think it would be tonight. She came in her face stone cold, her eyes a dark mind of hopeful, found only in those sure of the answer.
I excused my cousin and attempted to numb her from the following pain. I had been trying to keep her out of this until I was sure, but her father knew what I was close to and in a desperate attempt to keep her on his side. She had been off since we got in the car, if I was stupid I would have attested that to seeing her father, but I knew she was pulling at something in her mind. She seemed focused and unsettled, so when I saw her come down the stairs in nothing but her robe I knew the question on her mind.
"Did he have my mother killed?" She asked.
I wouldn't lie to her, I wouldn't do that no matter how much easier it would be if I did. She already despised the man, but this would push her over the edge. I prided myself on telling her the truth when most of her life had been built off of lies and omissions.
"I believe so, but I don't have the proof yet," I told her drinking the glass.
"How do you know?" She pushed, she clenched her fists. I wanted to caution her not to find reason in this, don't try and save the image of your father now it is far too late for that.
"I found your mother's death all too convenient from the beginning, your father and I were under the microscope, Guilia failed at seducing me, he needed a new player," I explained. "Then out of nowhere, you appeared, the perfect distraction for me,"
"But how do you know," She snapped.
"Your sister at the restaurant she was gloating," She sat back nodding along, she remembered, didn't she?
"She knew he killed her, she was proud of it," I watched tears well in her eyes, I wanted so much then to kill Domenico, watch him burn for hurting her this way.
"What proof do you need?" She turned to me fire in her eyes, something about her had changed.
"Arianna I don't think it wise to inc-"
"No!" She growled. "No, he has killed my mother, the woman who gave me everything. I need to know if he did this, I need to see the proof," She told me.
"I've been trying to get in touch with the coroner who did your mother's autopsy, but he's gone into hiding, I believe I know where he is,"
"I'm coming with you,"
There wasn't room for argument, as one who knew the kind of grief that was flowing through her I wouldn't try. I wish she would still let me fight the battle but I believe that time was over. There is no doubt in my mind after questioning some of Domenico's men, tracking down the autopsy report, then Vanessa Captuo's medical records, that he had killed his wife. There was no trace of heart problems in her, she got physical once a year and was as healthy as could be. Foul play was clear to those who knew who her husband was.
She got dressed as I prepared myself for the drive, he was hiding out in Connecticut it would be a couple hours' drive there. Domenico was sure to keep tabs on him, and it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on the information.
She sat in the car silence still cloaking us, coldness masking her. I grabbed her hand trying to pull her out of the shadows she took it but didn't look at me. If I was sane I'd have turned the car around, I'd have put her on a plane to Italy and held her there until this was over so she wouldn't stain her hands, but like I said, I knew what she was going through.
She wouldn't rest until she got the truth, and she wouldn't stop until she got justice for her mother.
We pulled up to a small drive the trees canopying over the small cabin with only one light on. The perfect escape, what a shame we didn't come here for a romantic weekend getaway. I parked the car far enough away and we walked up to the small building. Luca nodded to me before the door was kicked in.
A plate clattered and we hear scuffling over to the back door, why do they think we won't have someone at the back door?
The small man was dragged before us and sat in a chair shaking with fright. I turned to see her, expecting to watch as she realized what we were about to do. She didn't seem fazed, she didn't look away, she stared at him determined to know.
"I did as you asked I stayed away I didn't tell anyone," He began bargaining for his life. It was true he didn't tell anyone, and he had stayed away. He should be rewarded for his loyalty, if only we were the ones he was loyal to.
"We aren't with Domenico," She told him, her voice was hard like steel, pointed and sharp ready to cut him to the bone for his sins.
The man quickly realized his position and froze for a moment his breathing quickened his forehead perspiring into droplets. "Please, please, I did only as he asked I wasn't involved in anything else. I'm sorry my d-d-daughter she's sick, we need-needed money. Her treatment," he looked between us choosing to plead with me instead, seeing the unbending resolution in my counterpart.
"Do you have any evidence?" I asked, Arianna stayed there rage seeping out of her as she eyed the man like a wolf with a bunny.
He lit up. "Yes! Yes! I kept it, I kept it all. I took ph-photos of the body," he scrambled over to the chimney grasping at a stone with his fingertips and wiggling it out. "It's in here, it's in here," The stone moved inch by inch until it gave way. He heaved setting the large rock down and grabbing a set of pictures from the slot in the wall.
"Here," He handed them over his hand shaking as he looked between us again eyeing her waiting for his chance to run.
I stepped forward and grabbed them as quickly as I could.
"Giovanni," she warned me but I knew better then.
"You don't wish to see these of that I'm sure," I promised her she stared blankly at me not agreeing with me her hand still outstretched.
I shook my head looking down at the photos. Even through the black and blue, I could tell she had her mother's look. They could have been twins, her mother had been beaten before they put a bullet in her head, no doubt trying to find the file Arianna had found.
I wouldn't let her see these.
I handed them off but she threw something to my man's head and he dropped the photos. The coroner dropped to the floor with a cry, Luca stepped in to help our friend and another tried to grab her.
"Arianna!" I went to grab her and take her out of the building.
She didn't look at me grabbing one single photo, the marks all along her mother's arms, the cut on her cheek, and the bullet hole in her head. I didn't have to force her out then she hurried out of the house and off to the side heaving as she expelled her insides.
SHe growled as she heaved dragging in hot breaths i held her hair back and rubbed her back ordering for a glass of water. She slammed a fist against the tree she was leaning on and spat the spat at he ground. I handed her the glass.
"You shouldn't have looked, no one should see that," I told her.
A single image flashed into my mind the charred remains of my brother, barely anything left of him to see.
She drank and cleared her mouth out.
"I had to see it,' Her hard voice cracked and she fell apart then. "He tortured her," she cried. "He tortured her, and-and then he killed her. To get to me," She clenched her fist around the glass and screamed chucking it out into the wilderness. She screamed again her fury eching off the forest. I grabbed her to hold her and she stopped her wails sobbing softly as she knelt to the ground.
I picked her up and took her back to the car, she didn't need to stay here. She didn't need to sit in this spot where she learned the horrible truth. I would take her home, let her cry out her pain there where she was safe, and no one could see the damage.
I ordered them to take care of the photos Luca knew what to do, make copies, save them to a hard drive, and protect the originals. They would take this man to a safe house of ours, an actual safe house. Domenico knew we were onto the truth I had no doubt he would kill this man.
I got her in the car and we started heading back to the city, the drive back seemed much longer as she sat there the wheel turning in her mind. She was hollow as she thought of the horror her mother endured. It was endless watching her torture herself with the pain her mother had endured, I looked over at her time and again as we made our way back and it was dawn by the time we returned. I held her hand as we walked into the house but she stopped before we reached the entrance.
"I'm going to kill him," She said. "I'm going to do to him exactly what he did to my mother,"